I'll Try
by wolfsrainrules
Summary: Natsume had taken her place as Vongola the Tenth, and the weight was slowly crushing her spirit. She kept getting up though, kept trying. Reborn can see what's happening, and he's had enough. It's time Natsume learned she didn't have to take on all that weight alone. (BOSS!27. FEM!OLDER!27. A!Reborn/FEM27. AU.)


**Inspired by I'll Try by Jesse McCartney. FEM27. BOSS27 A!Reborn/FEM27**

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Natsume Sawada wasn't going to lie. She had held onto the hope that she would not be a Mafia Boss for as long as humanly possible.

Now here she was.

Vongola Decimo. A Mafia Donna.

Everything she had known had changed.

Her entire world had shifted out from under her and suffered natural disasters. She didn't know where to turn or who to turn too. All her friends were suffering from the same problems and they turned to her for help. She was the Boss. She should know what to do after all.

So Natsume smiled and bore the weight of her burden silently for them. It wore her out, beat at her strength, and made her so very, _very_ exhausted. So tired she couldn't even listen to Reborn telling her to take a breather, to stop.

Her childish beliefs suffered under this weight and once bright and shining eyes dimmed under the burden. Still…Natsume tried.

She got up each morning.

She smiled.

She kept moving forward.

She wasn't a child anymore. She couldn't let her family see her cry at night once she was out of sight. It was her job to take care of them, and herself, and the Famiglia. She couldn't let them see her falter and fall. She had to be strong.

So Natsume tried.

She stood under that weight and soldiered on.

Reborn watched Natsume struggle under the weight and tried to make her pause, to breathe. He knew she was so very tired, he could see it, but she just kept going, just kept moving, showing that iron will that Reborn could remember from her training days before the Curse had lifted when Reborn would drive her into the ground and she would claw her way up and out bruised and bleeding but determined and he would be left standing in awe so achingly _**proud**_ of the girl but unable to express it…

Even now, years later, the woman standing in front of him left him achingly proud but at a loss.

Her iron will was bending under the weight. It was bending as she soldiered on, adding more and more weight, until Reborn lost it.

He _loved_ the no good idiot and he refused to let her, his beloved Sky, his heart, to shatter and fall under the weight. She was _his_ and Reborn took care of what was _his_.

So he kicked her door down, glad her Guardians were out on missions and wouldn't try to stop him.

She looked up from the paperwork and smiled a smile that was _dull-__**dying**__- _compared to her old ones and asked "Can I help you Reborn?"

And Reborn growled, stomping over to her, and pulling her into his arms over the desk ignoring all the paperwork he knocked to the floor in the process and snarled _"Enough!"_

Natsume's eyes widened in shock even as she wrapped her arms around Reborn's neck to stay balanced. "Reborn? What-?"

"That is enough you stubborn iron-willed idiot." His voice rumbled through his chest. He kept talking and Natsume tensed the more he spoke, but stayed silent _finally_ being forced to listen. "You are not a child anymore. You are a woman- a damn good one- and you have to remain strong for Vongola, that's all true…but _damn it_ Natsume…you don't have to do this **alone!**" His arms tightened around her "You're killing yourself you idiot. You don't need to stand under all the weight alone. It will crush you, and I refuse to allow you to crush yourself. You're mine. And I take care of what's mine. I guided you into this darkened world of the Mafia…now it's time for me to stand at your side and walk _through_ it with you."

Natsume shook in his arms, finally _hearing_ him for the first time in a while. She burrowed into his chest and she cried, finally sharing the weight of her burden, and Reborn pulled her closer running a hand through her hair as he shouldered her burden when she could no longer stand under its weight.

"S-Sorry Reborn." Natsume's voice echoed through the room, stuffy and clogged sounding, but sounding lighter then he had heard for a very long time, and when she pulled further away to look at him Reborn fought the urge to smile.

Her eyes were lighter- no longer _**dying**_- and her smile was bright like the moon coming out of the darkness. Instead Reborn pulled Natsume close and gruffly growled "Stupid Dame-Natsume."

And Natsume's smile grew larger. She had forgotten how much she trusted and loved the man holding her close. She could finally see it again. The light of faith and trust and strength that this man was willing to lend her when she could no longer depend on herself.

She pulled away with a still brightening smile. Reborn looked down at her and Natsume leaned up from her awkward position half on her desk and half in Reborn's arms to kiss him softly, letting him feel all her love and faith, all her trust in him. And she smiled when Reborn's moment of shock wore off, and he kissed her back, softly, but strongly- a demand for trust and willingness in it.

And Natsume broke away from that kiss thinking that perhaps this time she would try again…with Reborn at her side.


End file.
